Despite leaders’ hopes for a brighter future on Columbia Pike, both new and established businesses continue to face difficulties as roadwork drags on.
At this month’s “State of the Pike” forum, speakers highlighted a “light at the end of the tunnel” for establishments that have endured years of nearby utility work and road and sidewalk reconstruction.
The county hopes to achieve substantial completion on the Columbia Pike Multimodal Improvement project “around the end of 2025, as work conditions permit,” county spokesperson Claudia Pors told ARLnow.
However, business owners told ARLnow that ongoing construction work has hurt profit margins and made it more difficult to grow and even survive on the Pike. While some expressed cautious optimism about the ultimate benefits of roadwork, they hope county leaders recognize the toll it continues to take.
Established businesses feel the pinch
Shan Gill, whose family has owned the Citgo at 2324 Columbia Pike since 1992, said construction harms his business in numerous ways.
“Our gas volume has significantly been impacted,” he told ARLnow. “Our repairs have been impacted. Our state inspections have been impacted. … Even our walking traffic has been impacted because [of] the sidewalks.”
Gill said that construction blocking roads around his gas station has been particularly harmful. He has had to lower gas prices and cut his profit margins to keep customers coming.
In the decades that his family has worked at this gas station, Gill said that current roadwork has posed one of the most severe challenges.
“I want to reiterate that we’ve been there for 33 years,” he said. “We’ve weathered so many storms, though the pandemic, through everything, and it’s been fine. … I’m not going to say that we’re struggling right now or whatnot, but it’s just unfortunate.”
Sarah White, owner of Lost Dog Cafe, added that construction has impaired delivery drivers’ access to her restaurant at 2920 Columbia Pike.
“You know, every time we think that it’s just about done, we hear that there’s going to be more,” she said. “It makes it really, really hard to survive on Columbia Pike.”
“Don’t get me wrong, we are surviving, and we plan to be there for many, many years,” she added. “But it hasn’t made it easy.”
Coupled with crime and a proposed meal tax increase during volatile economic times, White said she doesn’t feel supported by county leaders.
She wishes for more open communication between the county and local businesses. Lost Dog, which opened in 2009, selected the location because of former county plans for a streetcar, she said.
When that didn’t happen, she felt slighted.
“Then the construction continued to happen, and then the traffic kept getting worse,” White said. “It was not at all what we expected when we picked the location.”
New businesses face headwinds
Construction has also made it more difficult for new businesses to get off the ground on the Pike, owners say.
Sabores Tapas Bar, which opened about two years ago at 2401 Columbia Pike, hasn’t known a day of business without the construction.
Sabores customers have sent in complaints and canceled reservations over limited parking and travel difficulties, co-owner Carlos Olarte said. The work also presented an eyesore for outdoor diners.
He also expressed frustration over “a lack of communication from the county.”
“We’ve been several meetings that they have done, but it’s more — no solutions come out of it,” Olarte said. “We understand that this is progress, but we, as a new business, are part of the progress of bringing up Columbia Pike.”
Ibrahim Al-Amin, who opened the second location of Charga Grill at 3203 Columbia Pike in August, acknowledged the value of infrastructure upgrades — particularly if they mean safer streets and are actually geared around small businesses.
He hasn’t had construction directly in front of his business yet, but he is bracing for that day.
“I understand the need for improvement, but of course as a small business, navigating anything that potentially keeps customers from coming through the doors is tough,” Al-Amin said.
While he said Charga’s established brand has helped it establish a foothold on the Pike, “there have definitely been some slow days where we’ve wondered if perhaps the construction played a part.”
The county’s plans
Pors noted that a portion of Columbia Pike roadwork crossed a milestone late last year.
A stretch of the project between S. Wakefield Street and S. Oakland Street reached substantial completion, although “we still have some landscaping and related work in that segment to finish.”
Pors added that a project coordinator “has regular direct communication with businesses and property managers impacted by construction activity.”
This is in addition to efforts to keep the public informed on the county’s website and through a newsletter.
The package of improvements in the $114 million project includes wider sidewalks, new streetlights, new medians and more landscaping. It is also replacing aging water and sewer mains and burying utility lines.
“We value the patience and eagerness for the completion of the project and the end of the disruption that is typical of construction projects, and we look forward to seeing the final results of widened and evened sidewalks, utilities upgraded and moved underground, and new lighting and landscaping,” Pors said.
